Light fixtures creating various effects are getting more and more used in the entertainment industry in order to create various light effects and mood lighting in connection with live shows, TV shows, sport events or as a part on architectural installation.
Entertainment light fixtures creates typically a light beam having a beam width and a divergence and can for instance be wash/flood fixtures creating a relatively wide light beam with a uniform light distribution or it can be profile fixtures adapted to project an image onto a target surface. There is a tendency that more and more of this kind of fixtures are used in each show or each installation and the fixtures get as a consequence more and more visible for the sectors or TV viewers. The light fixtures typically create the lighting effect at a distance from the light fixture itself and the light fixture is thus not as interesting and esthetic to look at. The fixture manufactures tries as a consequence to provide the fixtures with esthetic designs in order to make the fixtures more interesting to look at. However this is very difficult as the housing of the fixtures typical dependents on physical requirements defined by the technical specifications of the fixture such as optics, mechanics, electronics, cooling etc.
Typically in light shows a large number of different light fixtures are used and one or more central controllers are coupled to and adapted to control the light fixtures. The central controllers are programmed by the light designer/programmer and will thus execute the light show as programmed. One common way of programming a light show comprises the step of creating a number of cues which comprises a number of instructions to a number of light fixtures. The cues are then activated through user interfaces or time codes in the programming. US2002/0078221, US2005/0285547, US2005/0116667 and US2007/0195526 shows typical light systems where a central controller controls the light fixtures in the light system based on programs created by the light designer/programmer. It is rather complicated to program a light show as it requires information of performance and settings of the different light fixtures in the light system.
The LED component has further as a light source changed the look of most lighting luminaries, when using multiple LEDs to replace a single light source. This implies for all lighting industries—general, domestic, industrial, entertainment etc. The most visible change is that all multiple light sources are now exposed to the viewer and the light emits from a larger area. Now that most LED fixtures have visible LEDs, some customers dislike the look of multiple light dots. Instead a more uniform, even light exit is requested, to avoid the cheap looking “funfair” look with an extreme amount of light sources. The dotted “funfair” look appears both on light fixtures which mixes the colors before the light is emitted from the housing and also of light fixtures where the colors are mixed in the air or at the wall.
In some LED fixtures the number of LEDs has been arranged in a number of groups of light sources which can be individually controlled by the controller of the fixture. Various visual effects can be then be created by activating the different groups of light sources according to a predetermined pattern. Some LED fixtures comprise a number of preprogrammed effects defining the predetermined pattern and the LED fixture will execute the preprogrammed effects when receiving instructions to do so. Typically the instruction is sent to the fixture from a central controller as an input indicative of the effect function this makes it possible for a light designer or programmer to create visual effects in an easy and fast way, as he/she do only need to choose one of the preprogrammed effect functions. In some of these LED fixtures it is possible to activate to effect functions at the same time and the LED fixture will simply run the two effect functions simultaneously. It has turned that it can be quite complicated to create nice and good looking visual effects when two different effect functions is combined, as the combination of effect functions does not always look nice. Presently this can be handled in the central controller for instance as described in US2002/0078221, US2005/0285547, US2005/0116667 and US2007/0195526. However this requires that the central controller and the light programmer know how the different types of fixtures can combine different effect and complicates the programming further; especially when many different light fixtures are used in a light system. Further the processing power of the central light controllers are often run at their maximum limit and the aspect of combining different effect functions in light fixtures will require even more processing power at the central light controller.
Another issue is the fact that entertainment light fixtures also are used in relative simple light systems, where only a few light fixtures are used for instance in shops, small bar, private homes, companies etc., where the light system typically is controlled by a person without specific skills and experience in light programming. Typically such light systems are controlled by a simple central light controller with a simplified user interface and limited processing power (compared to the light controllers used for large show) is provided. In such systems it is very difficult for the non-experienced use to create nice light effects using the effect functions of the light functions.